It took a long and winding road for Albertsons ($ALBERTSONS) to hit the public market, but finally, the company is going through with its IPO with NYSE:ACI as the proposed ticker symbol. 

We have some data that adds context to why this IPO might finally go through as intended, since the last time they tried, they failed to merge with Rite Aid. Ever since Albertsons merged with Safeway Inc., they're now only topped by Kroger in the same space. So how do these two competing supermarkets stack up?

According to the third-quarter earnings call, there are 2,260 stores and 275,000 total employees under the Albertsons banner of stores. All those stores have several iterations of apps, the two most commonplace and rated are "Deals & Rewards", and "Delivery & Pick-up". The biggest gatherer of reviews is the Safeway app, which grew by 18%.

Kroger ($KR) is similarly targeting apps as an important part of its respective development. The Albertsons apps, on the whole, have more reviews, but no one single app has more than Kroger. You can see the official numbers in our recent article on Kroger here, but Albertsons might have the more popular brands with its apps over the Kroger subsidiaries.

It's kind of like the Golden State Warriors having four all-stars, versus LeBron James leading the Cleveland Cavaliers. One team has the best name in supermarkets, but the other team has a deeper bench and a stronger roster.

And to top it all off, Albertsons' Twitter following has increased by 30%. The tweets just include delicious-looking food, which is basically what you want to see.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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